Bail lowered, one charge dismissed in Christmas-day assault case

LANCASTER – A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has lowered bail and dismissed one of three felony charges against a woman accused of beating another woman over the head with a 20-pound rock on Christmas Day.

During a preliminary hearing Friday, Judge Lisa Mangay Chung dismissed an attempted murder charge against 34-year-old Lachelle Robinson, citing insufficient evidence. However, Robinson was ordered to stand trial on felony charges of assault with a deadly weapon and mayhem. Both charges carry a maximum combined penalty of 12 years in state prison and fines of up to $10,000. Robinson was held on $400,000 bail, reduced from the $1 million she had been held on since her arrest on December 25.

“I’m not happy because they lowered her bail,” said alleged victim Jacqueline Hughes, 49. “But I don’t think she is going to come up with the money.”

On Dec. 25, 2011, Robinson allegedly hit Hughes in the head with a rock, the size of a bowling ball, while Hughes lay on the ground, deputies said.

“You can imagine, you’re lying on the ground and somebody takes a large boulder and smashes you in the forehead with it,” Lancaster Sheriff’s Station spokesman Michael Rust said previously.

Read more on what happened that day and events that lead up to the incident here.

Jacqueline Hughes, four days after the incident.

At Friday’s preliminary hearing, a wheelchair-bound Hughes was one of four people who gave sworn testimony. Robinson’s defense attorney, Stacie Halpern, questioned Hughes about whether she had a weapon during the incident. Hughes said she did not. Hughes was also questioned about the rock used in the incident and other minor details.

“I don’t know if they were trying to trip me up, but I was truthful, so there is no way in the world they can trip me up,” Hughes said after the hearing. “I said the same thing I’ve been saying since I woke up in the hospital.”

Hughes said, since the incident, she has been having nightmares and has hardly left the house.

“I’m looking at the door constantly, if I hear a car I’m thinking they could just come up here shooting in the window,” Hughes said. “I fear for my life.”